Don't know what happened to the post above this, but here's what I had written:
From Texas? Wow, it's pretty amazing to think that the chicks can survive being mailed all the way from Texas. I would imagine that the shipping would be expensive. When I went to Kaneohe Farm Supply I didn't think the prices for the chicks were unreasonable. I guess the added charge for shipping isn't as noticeable cause it's spread out to everyone that gets a chick.
I believe that chicks can survive up to three days after hatching without food or water. I know that the guys at Kaneohe Farm Supply pick up their chicks from the nearby post office and they arrive packed neatly in a large cardboard box. When their shipment arrives there are a LOT of baby chicks in the store, so I am guessing that they place a fairly large order. The babies keep each other warm during transit.
I am actually worried about the noise the chickens are going to make when they start laying. My father laughs at my having "pet" chickens. He actually spent a lot of time on his grandparents' farm and likes to countermand all my decisions regarding chicken rearing. I want to keep them warm with the heat lamp; he tells me that I'm being ridiculous. I want to rebuild/fix part of the coop; he tells me that the house is for chickens and to leave it be. I told him that it was too early to let them out of the house; he tells me that on a farm the mother chicken would have them out one day one. When he told me to go on YouTube and listen to a chicken laying an egg, I did and I am not looking forward to the reactions of my neighbors...it's going to be bad.
It's funny how we chicken owners tend to coddle our pet chickens. I have the opportunity to watch the feral hens raise their babies and the wild moms have their young walking around on day one. They forage with their new babies in the pouring rain and cold wind. The babies seem to tolerate the elements pretty well and just squeeze under mom when they start to get chilled. Mom is pretty hard core and doesn't tolerate misbehaving or chicks lagging behind. The ones that tend to straggle are usually left abandoned in our yard. It's pretty sad how many dead chicks I find in our yard that were probably left behind by their mom.
I know what you're talking about the feral chickens in Kaneohe. When I used to work in Kaneohe you couldn't go anywhere without being able to hear the roosters crowing. Can you compare the noise a laying hen makes to a rooster crowing...louder, longer, more irritating? I read somewhere that a lady had afternoon layers. Any chance of that being the norm? Probably not. Well, thanks for responding. I know there are more of us here. Let's hear from the rest of you.
Try doing a search on You Tube for the egg song. It is the typical bawk... bawk... bawk sound that hens make... just very loudly and can go on for a while. Abbey and Harley were pretty quiet up until about 22 weeks of age. I freaked out when I first heard Harley start yelling at the top of her lungs. They started getting pretty vocal about two weeks before they started laying. They've quieted down a lot as they've gotten older and tend to be noisy mostly in the early morning, after they lay their eggs and in the evening. I don't hear much from them during the times in between. They both make soft clucking noises throughout the day communicating with each other, but individually make unique sounds. Like I mentioned before, Abbey whines and Harley honks, lol. Abbey (BR) tends to lay her eggs earlier in the day, Harley (RIR) seems to lay closer to noon. They both have a cycle of laying three or four eggs in a row, then taking a day off.
I would also be curious to hear other people's experiences with their chickens and their unique personalities. I only have two breeds, so I don't know how they compare to other types of chickens. Looking forward to hearing from other Hawaii chicken owners.
